Arrow: Okay all who actually take the time to read my nonsense, here is the third installment of On The Straight and Narrow, just for all of you.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and OOCness of the characters.
On The Straight and Narrow
Chapter Two
The Saying is a Lie
Alphonse had yet to dry the tears still running down his face, but he didn't care about that. All he cared about was that his brother was back and hopefully here to stay. Ed wouldn't leave him again, right? Roy Mustang, the infamous Flame Alchemist, was struck dumb by the scene occurring in front of him. Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, the people's alchemist, was back and with the two most dangerous homunculi in existence, of all people.
"Fullmetal?" To everyone's surprise, except the brothers, who weren't paying attention to anything but each other, and the homunculi, who didn't seem to care for anything that Roy said. "Ed? Edward? Elric, pay attention to me!" No good, Ed just didn't pay any attention to him. Riza was shocked. Even when the two fought, Ed had never so blatantly disrespected him. Envy noticed the lack of acknowledgement of the military officers and decided to help.
"Hey, Pride?" Surprisingly, Fullmetal looked at Envy immediately.
"Yes, what is it?"
"Colonel Roy Mustang has been yelling for you, calling you either, Edward or Fullmetal." Pride's eyes widened and spun to face the military, his former friends and companions.
"I'm sorry. I haven't been called that in years." Al looked up from his place beside Pride, confused.
"What do you mean, Brother?" They all watched in shock as Envy, Lust and Pride all flinched simultaneously. "What's wrong?" Lust burst into tears at Alphonse's innocent question. Pride and Envy both knelt on opposite sides of the only female homunculus.
"Lust? What is it?" Riza was worried.
"What's wrong with her? Is there anything we can do to help?" Even Roy was scared that something was wrong. Pride looked over at all of them.
"I think maybe I should tell you the whole story now. That way you all won't get confused or anything like that." Al sat next to his brother and waited for him to begin. "As most of you know, to get Al's body back, we searched for the Philosopher's Stone and found it. Using it in a transmutation to recreate his body, nothing should have been lost. However, the Gate decided to give our mother life again as well as give Al his body back. In doing so, the Stone was no longer enough, so the Gate took me to make up the balance." This was all review for the military; they knew all of this from Alphonse and Trisha. "After taking me, the Gate decided on a whim to," here the elder Elric's voice faltered and he was silent for a moment. After sighing deeply, he continued. "The Gate decided on a whim to transform me into a homunculus." Dead silence stole over Pride's captivated crowd. "Yes, I am the homunculus known as Pride now. That was all Dante ever called me, as well as these two," gesturing to Lust and Envy, "so while I could remember my name and who I used to be, I am unused to being called that. I'm sorry." The clearing was silent once more, before Alphonse started to cry again.
"Brother! I am sorry you had to go through that for mom and me. It isn't fair! You shouldn't have to give up everything for everyone else!" Pride embraced his younger brother, attempting to soothe him. Roy turned to Envy.
"What happened to Dante? We know that she is the ringleader of your little group." Envy flinched again before answering stiffly.
"She is dead." The military began to rejoice before stopping suddenly when they noticed that Fullmetal was not joining in with their celebration. Was he not happy that the bane of his existence was gone?
"Fullmet- I mean Pride, why do you not celebrate? You didn't like her did you?" Pride glared at him.
"No, I didn't. I hated her with everything that I had in me until the day that she died. I cannot in good conscience, celebrate her death as you all do. She was the one to take me in and train me when no one else would. I was never allowed to go onto military grounds, though that was where I went first. She, Envy and Lust helped me to control my abilities as a homunculus; and while I will resent everything we were forced to do, I will be forever grateful to Dante for helping me." The military was silent. They hadn't thought of the situation in that light. Riza spoke next.
"Where are the other homunculi?" Lust looked at the sharpshooter.
"They died. We are the only homunculi left." The military thought of this new information. Alphonse looked up at his brother, then to Envy.
"Envy," said homunculus looked at the younger Elric boy. "Why didn't you attack? We know that Ed, err, Pride was always the only one who could withstand your attacks, so why hesitate?" Envy blinked and then smiled.
"You, little Alphonse, are getting ahead of the story." Al blushed in embarrassment at asking a question when, apparently, the answer was about to be said.
"Don't worry about it, Al. You didn't know that the answer was coming. Envy," the homunculus smiled sweetly.
"Yes, Pride?" Pride smirked at him.
"Do us all a favor, and be quiet." Envy saluted silently, before bursting into laughter with Lust. Pride shook his head and smiled at the two of them. "Okay. To continue, after about four years, Dante died." A moment of silence was shared between the three homunculi, as if to pay some form of respect to the woman who had made their lives a living hell. Literally. "This is the part that Envy and Lust need to explain because it still makes no sense to me." Lust smiled and spoke.
"Envy and I had completely forgotten what it had been like to be human. Pride, however, was able to remember his life as the Fullmetal Alchemist and Edward Elric. Bearing this in mind, Envy and I decided that, when Dante was dead, we would ask Pride to help us remember what it was like, to help us get our humanity back."
"So I said I would. To answer your question, Alphonse, Envy didn't attack because he didn't want to and it wouldn't be right. Yes, we all have killed, but so has every military officer here. It is an occupational hazard for them and it is a fact of life for us. No one will trust a homunculus and will try to kill us on a daily basis." Envy took up the train of thought.
"We usually try to run from them, but if they start injuring one of us, we will attack. We don't try to kill them, but humans are not very resistant to homunculi attacks." This was logical reasoning but the military didn't know what to do. Mustang spoke.
"We won't attack unless we have a reason to but we still don't trust you. Pride," Mustang was greeted with curious golden eyes staring back at him. He felt a pang in his heart at the familiarity of this, as he had been graced with that look so many times before when the elder Elric brother was under his command. "Pride, we want you to rejoin the military and reclaim your title as the Fullmetal Alchemist." Everyone waited with bated breath, hoping Pride would agree. Pride sighed sadly.
"As tempting as that sounds, I have to decline." All were stunned. Al looked up at his brother.
"Why Brother? You were one of the best alchemists in history! Why won't you say yes?" Pride looked sadly at his younger brother.
"The key word is 'were'. Al, only one homunculus can use alchemy and that is Wrath. I know that he is still with Izumi. I am not him and cannot use alchemy at all." Shocked silence met that statement. The Fullmetal couldn't use alchemy? He didn't have that ability anymore? "I know what you all are thinking and I couldn't believe it at first either. The Gate is cruel." Al looked up at him, determined.
"Brother, that doesn't matter. You are still the Fullmetal Alchemist." Pride laughed.
"No, Alphonse. I am just Pride, Brother, or maybe I will get used to being called Edward again. I am not the Fullmetal Alchemist anymore." Al took a deep breath.
"Brother, I have a question." Pride nodded for him to continue. "Will you come back and live with me, Mom, and Dad? Will you come home?" Pride blinked.
"Al, I can't do that. I have to stay with these two idiots and make sure that they don't do anything stupid."
"Hey!"
"Brother, you know the old saying 'Second Chances Don't Matter'. No matter what, they will fall back on their old habits, even if they want to change."
"Ah, but the saying is a lie."
"How so?"
"Do you not realize how easy it would be for them to kill all of you right now? Even if I weren't here, they would never do that. Not now anyway. They don't have the urge to kill anymore because Dante is gone. We are free." The military thought about that and recognized it to be true. Even when Envy did not know where Pride was, he had refrained from attacking and killing though he could have easily done so.
Maybe that old saying was wrong after all.
Arrow: Okay, I know I planned to post this last night but I fell asleep before I could. I apologize and now here it is. Yay, virtual cookies for all! Please read and review to let me know what you think.
